PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies have shown a penchant for being faithful to a fault toward veteran players over the years, and it doesn’t seem they will divert from that trend when it comes to Roy Halladay.

After the Phils decided against allowing the right-hander to make an extra start in extended spring training and pushed him to the back of the rotation to open the season, Halladay has been hammered by both the Braves and Mets in his first two starts of 2013.

Halladay continues his grand tour of the National League East in his next start Sunday in Miami against the positively woeful Marlins. Clearly, there’s a chance that the struggling veteran will gather himself and get his 14.73 ERA into three-digit territory against the worst team in baseball. However, even if he struggles a third time, the Phillies insist they will let the 35-year-old continue to go out there every fifth day and try to make fixes in games that count.

“I think he’ll figure it out himself,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “He’ll figure it out himself. I have confidence that he will.

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“Right now he’s just not throwing with the same kind of velocity. He doesn’t have the same kind of consistency with his stuff and he’s not throwing strikes. You’re not going to have success doing that. I think more than anything else, he has to get back to the point where he’s throwing more consistent strikes.”

The Phillies do have the ability to place Halladay on the disabled list and have him make a couple of rehabilitation starts in the minors if the veteran were agreeable to such a plan. But again, there seems to be not an iota of inclination in either the front office or coaching staff to consider that.

“He hasn’t been on an injury report one time this spring,” Amaro said. “He hasn’t complained of any pain. He hasn’t complained of any issues. He just doesn’t have the same velocity, and we have to live with it.

“I think after last year when he was reluctant to let us know how he was feeling — I think he understands the importance of that. If he had pain, if he had discomfort, he wouldn’t be pitching.”

Charlie Manuel said he had a brief conversation with Halladay Tuesday afternoon. Throughout his tenure with the Phillies, Manuel has given great autonomy to pitching coach Rich Dubee when it comes to handling the pitchers, and Halladay’s situation is no exception.

“I try to leave everything possible (to Dubee) until I have to talk to someone,” Manuel said. “When I was a hitting coach, no one talked to my hitters. I did all the work and no one interfered, and I liked it that way.

“I think the more people involved, the more it can get hacked up.”

Dubee, for his part, is the most steadfast when it comes to allowing Halladay to sort out matters while taking his turn every fifth day. He grumbled loudly late in spring at the mere suggestion that Halladay’s first start be pushed back so he could take an extra exhibition turn.

Of course, there’s a limit for everyone when it comes to ineffectiveness. But no one in the organization wants to see it reach that point.

“We haven’t done some of the things we wanted to do,” Amaro said, “but more than anything else we haven’t pitched. We don’t pitch, we don’t win. That’s supposed to be our strength. We don’t pitch, we don’t win.

“So far, our No. 1 (Cole Hamels) and our No. 2 have been not very good. They will be. They’ll be better. When they’re better, we’ll be better. If they’re not, then we won’t be.”

NOTES: The Phils conclude their series with the Mets tonight (7:05) when Kyle Kendrick (0-1, 7.94) goes against Jeremy Hefner (0-1, 1.50). … The Drexel women’s basketball team was honored before the game for its Women’s NIT championship. Among those in attendance were the Archbishop Carroll triumvirate of Hollie Mershon, Meghan Creighton and Rachel Pearson, while head coach and Cardinal O’Hara product Denise Dillon threw out the first pitch.